Interrogating cellular perception and decision making with optogenetic tools

Abstract

Optogenetics promises to deepen our understanding of how cells perceive and respond to complex and dynamic signals and how this perception regulates normal and abnormal function. In this study, we present our vision for how these nascent tools may transform our view of fundamental cell biological processes.

Figure 1.

Understanding cellular input responses through optogenetics. (A) Optogenetics provides a virtual reality platform for cells, capable of probing cells with user-programmable dynamic inputs. This enables a systematic examination of how cells perceive complex and time-varying input signals. (B) Optogenetic tools enable dissection of molecular networks in the native cellular context. Signal intensities and timings can be tuned at arbitrary nodes within a signaling network, permitting a quantitative understanding of information flow and a functional mapping of network interactions. (C) Mapping how signaling inputs drive cell fate outputs may reveal fundamental rewiring of input responses within cancer or other diseases. In the depicted conceptual example, a given stimulus (yellow dot) promotes survival in a normal cell but induces proliferation in a tumor cell as a result of cancer-induced input response rewiring. This would result in hyperproliferation.